Xmas and New Year Wishes

Probably won't be posting anything while I'm on my xmas break, so I hope everyone has a great christmas and a happy new year. See u in 2010!

TV Review: Dexter

Dexter is a crime/mystery series, based on the Dexter novels. The show is not exactly the same as the novels, but it has the same general storyline. It is about a serial killer called Dexter Morgan. He works for the Miami police as a forensics expert specialising in blood spatter. Basically he can tell how a situation played out based on things like the direction of the blood spatter.

Dexter was psychologically scarred as a child, because he witnessed the killing of his mother. Due to this, he is emotionally detached and has urges to kill from a voice in his head that he calls 'the dark passenger'. When he kills someone, the dark passenger is satisfied and goes away for a while... but will eventually come back. After his mother was killed, he was adopted by Harry Morgan. Harry realises Dexter's problem, and tried to change him so that he was no longer a potential killer. However, he understood that it wasn't a problem that would just go away, so he taught Dexter to use his urges in a more positive and accepting way, which is to only kill people that are actually guilty of a crime. Dexter refers to these teachings by Harry as 'the code' which he mentions fairly often. So in Dexter's spare time, he will research criminals who have escaped the justice system, and prove that they were guilty... then he will capture them, wrap them up in plastic, cut their cheek to draw blood which he then keeps as a sort of trophy/memento, then he will kill them and cut up the body. The body parts are then wrapped up in plastic bags, which he then dumps in the ocean.

So the series is based off Dexter and his way of life filled with killing and keeping his true identity hidden. The first series is a bit introductory, but the main plot is based on another serial killer that was given the name of 'the ice truck killer', who's killing methods have fascinated Dexter... and he tries to find the identity of him. In the meantime, he is also killing various criminals.

The main characters include;

Dexter Morgan - The main character, who also serves as the narrator. Pretty much described him already... but he also has a girlfriend named Rita, and through her... he begins to establish what feelings are meant to be.

Debra Morgan - Biological daughter of Harry Morgan, and Dexter's sister via adoption. She works for the Miami Police and is aspiring to become a detective. She is quite foul-mouthed, and has a tendency to speak her mind no matter what it is. But she is a smart girl, and she's very close with her brother Dexter.

Rita Bennett - Dexter's girlfriend. She has 2 kids; Cody and Astor, from a failed marriage. Her ex-husband was abusive and ended up in jail. She was untrusting of men due to that abuse, but she discovers that she truely loves Dexter and her relationship with him helps her to overcome the trauma of the abuse.

Harry Morgan - Dexter's foster father, who is deceased at the present time of the show. But he is commonly seen in flashbacks. He was a legendary detective working for Miami police before his death, and Debra aspires to become a detective because of Harry.

Maria LaGuerta - The lieutenant in charge of Miami police. She is a strong woman who seems to enjoy having the authority. She clearly dislikes Debra, and tends to take the stab at her a lot.

Angel Batista - A detective working for Miami police, who works quite closely with Dexter. He is a good-natured person, and very honest.

James Doakes - His character is quite amusing, in a hard-ass kind of way. He is a sergeant, and also works fairly closely with Dexter. He is suspicious of Dexter, but he also makes some funny wise-cracks at Dexter, for example he'll describe some horrific crime scene as being Dexter's wet dream.

Vince Masuka - Usually people just call him Masuka. He is the comedy relief of the show, although he's a bit of a minor character. He is a forensics investigator who works alongside Dexter. He is very intelligent, but also likes to make a lot of perverted comments, and a lot of these are directed at Debra (who finds him repulsive).


Rating - 9/10. One of my favourite shows at the moment. It has a lot of great suspense, such that I only watch each season in 1 go... instead of having to wait each week for a new episode. Theres quite a bit of nudity in season 2, if you're into that. The killing scenes aren't actually gorey or anything, so the show is suitable even if you normally don't like gorey stuff. You will know that he's slicing the body up and stuff... but you won't actually see him doing it. So far I'd rate the first season as being the best... it's strange that for most shows its the first season thats always the best. But the following seasons are still quite good and worth watching.

News Watch: Opening up old wounds

One thing that I get tired of, is when something bad occurs...theres lots of talk on the media and at the water cooler... then people get over it and its laid to rest... but then it has to be brought up yet again. The thing that I'm talking about, is the suspension of Kyle and Jackie'O a few months back... which is brought up again here : http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/kyle-jackie/2009/12/16/1260639217393.html

I am a fan of their show, and have been for a long time, so I could be a bit biased here... but I do find it annoying that I have to keep seeing the same thing brought up over and over, especially when the media is twisting it to make them sound like bad people.

The incident I'm referring to, is when the Kyle and Jackie'O show had a segment, which involved putting someone on a lie detector. A worried mother put her daughter on the lie detector because she wanted to know what was bothering her daughter and causing her to lead a destructive life. The plug was pulled when the daughter got angry and yelled out that she had gotten raped when she was 12 years old (she is 14 when she was on the lie detector).

I believe the Kyle and Jackie'O show did the right thing in stopping the segment straight away, and making sure the daughter was directed to the right people to get her help on the matter. But the media is making it out to be like it was the show's fault, and that they never should have put it on air... when it's not like the Kyle and Jackie'O show knew that the daughter had gotten raped in the first place... if they had known, they wouldn't have needed to end the segment in a panic.

It's not just this article too... but there have been many other articles in the past that are just lashing out at the show for doing something that they had no idea was going to turn out the way that it did. In fact, the real person to blame is the person who raped the girl... if it wasn't for whoever that was, then this segment wouldn't have turned out the way it did. Besides... in my opinion, it's better that it's out in the open. Obviously it could have been done privately, but according to the mother, she had already tried everything to try to get her daughter to talk to her about what was wrong. So at least they were able to get her to counselling and try to help her exit the destructive life that she was having. Obviously being raped at such a young age is a terrible thing to happen, and it has an extremely damaging effect on the girl, so it's better than people were made aware of it so something could be done, rather than her turning wilder and more out of control... which would probably have led to drug usage, dropping out of school, turning to prostitution, etc.

Well that's how I feel about the situation... and I hope the girl is ok now... but I think it's a good example of how easily the media can twist things, hence why they hold so much power in this world.

Movie/Book Review: New Moon (Twilight)

On the weekend I saw New Moon with a couple of girl friends. We were in gold class, and it was just us and 2 other random guys. We found it really strange because its either; they're there together to watch New Moon... or they've come by themselves to watch New Moon. Either way... it seems pretty weird to me lol.

Anyway, the Twilight books has been the latest big seller since Harry Potter. It is a love story between a vampire (Edward Cullen) and a high school girl (Bella Swan). I have actually read the books, which some guys might find surprising... but I usually look into stories that are supposed to be good, as I love a good storyline. The first book (Twilight) really enticed me into the series... but the second book (New Moon) was really disappointing. So I wasn't actually expecting much from the movie... but I wanted to see it anyway, because I wanted to see how it would turn out in a movie format.

Surprisingly, this is probably the first time I've actually thought the movie was better than the book... but this is mainly because I found the second book to be the worst out of the series. The main thing about the book that I hated was that it is told from Bella's point of view... and her thoughts are both really emo and also overly lovey dovey. So the good thing about the movie, is that you don't really have to hear all that kind of stuff. I also enjoyed the fight scenes between the vampires as I think it's pretty cool when they fight with their insanely high speed and strength.

The main problem I have with the movie though, is some of the acting. Some of the acting was pretty appauling, and I'm generally quite lenient. But some of the acting just gave me the shits... for example when Bella is supposed to be in a state of shock or utter disbelief, she has this weird expression and stutters a lot while seeming to have some sort of attitude. That's probably the best way I can describe it... you'll have to see for yourself to know what I mean.

The basic plot of this movie is that firstly, Bella becomes afraid of aging... as we mortals do. So she fears that one day she'll become an old grandma, and that Edward will no longer want her. Thus she wants to become a vampire a live among the Cullens. After a particular incident, it becomes apparent to the Cullens that they are a danger to Bella, so they leave town and erase traces that they had been there so that hopefully Bella would move on. When this happens, Bella becomes really depressed and emo... and the rest takes off from there.

Rating - 5/10. The Twilight series in general is more suited for girls than guys, but there are some good fighting scenes in there as well... just maybe not enough to offset having to go through all the lovey dovey stuff. The next movie should actually have a lot more fighting... as it's probably the book that has the potential to provide the most action scenes for the movie version. So if you do watch the movie for the fight scenes, then you should watch New Moon so you know what's going on... as whats revealed is pretty important to the storyline. If you have absolutely no interest in the books or if you didn't like the first movie... then you probably won't enjoy this movie.


Below is a picture of Christian Serratos, who plays Angela Weber. Angela Weber is a high school girl, and a friend of Bella. She has a very minor role in the movies, but she's a bit more prominent in the book (but not by that much more). I posted her pic because I think she's pretty good looking... this pic doesn't do her justice imo, but it's the only one I could find of her in New Moon.

Review: X-men Evolution

One of the most prominent comics of all time is the X-Men. Alongside other superhero comics like Batman, Spiderman, etc, X-men is based on a large number of superheroes instead of just one. I think many people will remember the original X-Men animated series from back in the 90's. X-Men evolution is based on mostly the same characters, except the setting is when they were younger, i.e. still at school. I guess this was to make the show target the high school audience, who could relate more to the characters... but also to show what happened pretty much at the beginning of when the Xavier Institute was starting up.

I think the background of the X-Men is quite widely known since theres so many things based on them, i.e. movies, tv shows, figurines, games etc... but basically the plot is that there are people who have the 'x gene' which gives people supernatural powers. These people are termed 'mutants', and the powers vary greatly, although there are some powers which multiple people possess the same of... the most common being psychic related powers, and superhuman strength.

Now to the main story... a man named Charles Xavier has started an institute for mutants, where they can be themselves and avoid public knowledge. This is because people do not know of the existence of mutants yet... so it's the pretty typical "don't reveal your identity" kind of thing that is quite common in superhero stories, except in this case it's to not reveal your powers. Within the institute, there are teachers who train the younger generation of mutants to develop their powers and to teach them to use it for the good of mankind. In the background, a mutant named Magneto is scheming plans for his own purposes. He believes that as a mutant, he is a superior being and separate to humans.... and that mutants should be ruling the world.

There are 4 seasons in total. The first season is pretty much an introductory season, where the beginning X-Men are recruiting the first members such as Shadowcat, Spyke (a new character that's not in the comics), Rogue and Nightcrawler. You'll basically get a fair bit of background on each of the main characters throughout season 1. Season 2 comes with the addition of even more mutants, especially from a younger generation. It also further develops some of the 'villains' like Magneto. To be honest, I don't think characters like Magneto and Mystique are really villains as such, since they're not really evil... but I'd say it's probably the best way to describe them. Season 3 is when the serious note takes off, and season 4 finishes off the primary storyline.

There is a huge cast in this series, so I'll just emphasise the main characters and keep the less important ones brief;

Charles Xavier - As mentioned, he started the institute for the X-Men. He is extremely intelligent, as he use to be a doctor... and he is arguably one of the most powerful psychics in the X-Men universe. He is a seemingly influential person even without his powers, as he is able to bail out the younger X-Men in many situations.

Storm - One of the teachers at the institute. I like her a lot more in this version as her cape makes her look pretty cool... and she's just generally better looking in this series than in the original animated series. As her name implies, her power is weather manipulation, as well as the ability to fly.

Wolverine - I'm sure people know about him now, since theres a movie based on him. In this series, he's kind of like Xavier's right hand man. He is also a teacher at the institute, and normally does a lot of rigorous training sessions for the students. As you'll probably know... his ability is his healing factor combined with an adamantium skeleton and claws.

Scott Summers (Cyclops) - He is the unofficial leader of the X-Men. He does most of the leading when theres a combat situation. He has a crush on Jean, but he's reluctant to confess his feelings to her. His ability is to produce energy blasts with his eyes. Due to brain damage, he is unable to control it, so he has to wear a viser or special sunglasses. This is not actually explained in the series... but it's the reason why you see that Rogue can absorb Scott's powers yet can control when she fires it.

Jean Grey - The good looking and popular high school girl. She is extremely intelligent, athletic and well-liked. She's very jealous when she sees Cyclops with other girls, even though she already has a boyfriend. She has psychic and telekinetic abilities, and she frequently uses it to give herself the ability to fly.

Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler) - He is a blue furred person with abnormal hands, feet and a tail. He receives an image inducer which allows him to appear to be a normal boy. He likes to goof around a lot, and has a very close friendship with Cyclops. His power is of teleportation, although he can't teleport long distances, and he has to know where he's teleporting too.

Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat) - She is a pretty smart girl, but really loves to party as well. She's also quite good looking. She has a phasing ability, which means she can pass through solid objects, and she can also make things that she's touching phase through too.

Rogue - Very different to the original. In the original, she's a pretty open fun-loving girl. In this series, shes an emo goth who keeps to herself a lot... which is why it took her so long to join the X-Men. Her ability is to drain a person's power and absorb their memories. For this reason, she makes sure that her body is covered as much as possible, and she always wears gloves.

Evan Daniels (Spyke) - a new character to the X-Men scene. He is the nephew of Storm, and he cares a lot about his Aunt. He's the type who prefers to slack off and do other things like skate-boarding instead of studying. His ability is to produce wooden stakes from his body, which he figures or throws at people.

Magneto - my favourite character of all time. His intelligence is of a genius level, especially in genetics. He is an old friend of Charles Xavier, who he worked alongside in their younger days. Due to their differences in opinion of mutants, they parted ways. Unlike most of the other mutants, he is an advanced mutant who has complete mastery of his powers. His power is of magnetism, which also allows him to fly as well. His level of control of his powers far exceeds any other mutant except maybe Xavier, as he can manipulate many metal objects over vast distances. He is also highly resilient to psychic attacks, although it's not explained why he has such strong mental defences.

There tonnes more mutants, but I won't go into detail about their backgrounds... but I'll give a brief list of their mutant names so that the X-Men fans know who to expect to see in the series; Iceman, Cannonball, Magma, Jubilee, Wolfsbane, Multiple, Berzerker, Sunspot, Mystique, Avalanche, Toad, The Blob, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Gambit, Sabretooth, Colossus, Pyro, Mastermind, Boom-Boom, the Morloks, X-23, Angel, Forge, Havok, Destiny, Leach, Juggernaut and Apocolypse.

Rating - 9/10. I'm a big fan of the X-Men, as it was one of the animations I grew up with. I also like the storyline and I think the idea of mutant powers is very interesting... so I really enjoyed watching this, as it's much better made than the original series. If you like the comics, or any of the movies/tv series based on it... then I'm pretty sure you'll like this one.

Anime/Manga Review: Hunter X Hunter

Hunter X Hunter is centered around a young boy named Gon Freaks (last name has various spellings... but I'll go with Freaks since its used in the subs that I saw). He was raised by his aunt Mito, who told him that his parents had died in an accident. It is revealed early on that his father is in fact still alive, and that he is a famous hunter. Gon is a very special kid, and the first sign of this was when he was able to catch a gigantic fish that no one else was able to catch. He leaves home in order to take the hunter exam and follow in the footsteps of his father Jin Freaks. He also wants to find his father, so finding clues about his father is another of his primary objectives. Along the way and through the hunter exam, Gon becomes best friends with Killua, Kurapika and Leorio.

A hunter in this story is a special title only given to very special people. In order to become a hunter, you have to pass the hunter's exam, which involves many various skills expected of someone with such a prestigous title. If you have a hunter's license, you are basically set for life... as even the license itself is extremely valuable. One of the main things that you need to know as a hunter is an ability called nen. It actually isn't shown until a bit later in the anime and manga, but its actually a pretty important to the storyline plot.

Nen is kind of like your inner aura, which has various applications based on your personal traits. Each person will generally have a different kind of usage for their nen than others. The types include:

Reinforcement - which enhances your physical attack and defensive strength. Also enhances your healing rate.

Emission - the ability to project your aura in some kind of form. Example, theres a character who has the ability to shoot nen bullets from his fingers.

Manipulation - pretty self explanatory... you can control an object with your aura

Transmutation - ability to transform your aura to mimic the properties of something else. For example, there is a character who transforms his aura into 'bungee gum' which has the properties of rubber and gum

Materialisation - can conjure and dispel an object at will

Specialisation - this is a pretty vague ability... and is quite hard to describe. It is anything that doesn't fall in the other 5 categories pretty much, but its also pretty unique. An example is there is a character who can write poems that predict the future.


The anime doesn't actually cover everything in the manga. So in terms of storyline, its probably better to read the manga, as there is a story arc thats not yet covered in the anime or any of the OVAs. However, the majority of it so far is in anime form, which is what I personally prefer. Anyway the main characters include;

Gon Freaks - main character. He is a very stubborn person, but also very loyal to his friends and would do anything for them. He is not very bright academically, but when it comes to fighting he's extremely intuitive and is very good at thinking up strategies on the fly. Not much else to say that hasn't already been said without spoiling anything.

Killua Zoldyck - he is from a family of the most powerful assassins in the world. Despite being so young (12, same age as Gon), he has already mastered many arts in killing and is 1 of the most dangerous people in the hunter exam. He becomes friends with Gon very quickly. Unlike Gon, Killua is quite intelligent as would be expected from an assassin, both academically and in combat. He joined the hunter's exam because he wanted a bit of a challenge.

Kurapika - the last member of the Kurta clan (I forgot what spelling was used in the subs, so I used the wikipedia spelling for it). His eyes turn scarlet red when he becomes angry, which is the reason his clan was killed, as their eyes were extremely valuable. His goal is to find the Ryodan, who are the ones responsible for massacring his clan. For this reason, he joins the hunter exam, because having access to the hunter database is the best chance of finding information on the Ryodan.

Leorio - he is an aspiring doctor, and he joins the hunter exam in order to get the money to enter medical school. In the past, one of his friends died of an uncurable illness... so his goal is to become a doctor who can cure anything. He is a bit of a comedy relief for this series, but at the same time he is a very loyal friend.

Hisoka - in a way, he can be seen as the main 'enemy' in the series, although he's not actually evil as such... however I would describe him as kind of insane, as the only thing he cares about is fighting and killing. He takes a liking to Gon and Killua (especially Gon) and often describes them as 'fruit' waiting to ripen. Basically meaning he wants to fight them when they become powerful. He uses playing cards to fight a lot of the time, however he is just generally ridiculously strong... and he would be the most dangerous person in the hunter exam. The thing I find funniest about Hisoka is that it is implied that he gets sexual gratification from fighting. This can be seen especially in a particular scene in the manga, where there is text and a large whitened out area covering his crotch area, which seems to emphasise that (you will see what I mean if you read the manga).

There are of course lots of other characters who come and go, but these are the main ones you'll see throughout the anime.

Rating - 9/10. A very good anime and manga with a good concept for fighting, and a pretty decent storyline. It also has some good childish humour to it. Its suitable for all audiences, and if you haven't seen it already then its a good time to watch or read it... as apparently the writer is going to continue on with the manga in 2010. Although I'm not certain if they'll continue making more OVAs for the anime for the missing story arc, or for the new ones.

Don't be fooled by Twilight

A few days ago I was listening to the radio as I usually do on the drive home... and they had the usual segment with the latest celebrity gossip and news. One thing in particular caught my ear was that apparently Miley Cyrus said something along the lines of "Twilight gives girls a false impression of guys, and it is unrealistic for someone as perfect as Edward Cullen to exist." It was not those exact words... but it was similar to that... and I must say, when I heard that I was extremely surprised as it was the wisest thing I've ever heard her say and I certainly applaud her for that opinion.

For those who have no idea about Edward Cullen... he is a fictional character from the Twilight series, which is all the rage at the moment. He is a vampire who has lived for 100 years, and is described in the books as being unrealistically good looking. I guess the most common reason why girls are so in love with his character is because he has the maturity of an old person... and is also from a very traditional background. He is not driven by hormones that you would expect from a typical guy... and if you put all of that into the body of a good looking 18 year old body... you basically have what girls would consider the perfect guy.

Now going back to Miley Cyrus' opinion... it is not realistic to be able to find a guy like that. However, some girls will probably match up their ideal guy to Edward Cullen... imagine if your girlfriend was like "why can't you be more like Edward Cullen?" how are you supposed to match up to that. Of course, he is a fictional character... but seeing as so many girls are crazy about the Twilight movie, i.e Robert Pattinson... I would not be surprised if girls have already been envisioning their dream guy to be some Edward Cullen clone.

Anyway I'm pleased that Miley came out with her opinion on this... as I think it will help lower the Twilight fanatics, and so that a fictional character doesn't raise the expectations of girls.

TV Review: Dollhouse

Dollhouse is based on a secret organisation called.... you guess it, 'Dollhouse'. Basically the organisation has numerous 'dolls' who are of course actual people, but their personalities have been downloaded and stored elsewhere, thus leaving an empty shell. The organisation's computer wizz; Topher, is the person responsible for 'imprinting' a new personality into the doll, depending on what the doll needs to do. Very wealthy clients will purchase the services for various reasons, for example assassinations, thievery, sexual services, espionage, and a wide range of other things. So the personality imprinted will excel in the area that the job requires. To the FBI... the Dollhouse is a myth, except for Agent Paul Ballard... who is obsessed with trying to find the Dollhouse and shut it down because he believes its practices to be immoral. Also in the background is a rogue doll codenamed Alpha, who is a genius and a superior being... and is trying to bring down the dollhouse too.

The main characters;

Echo - played by Eliza Dushku, who some may remember played Faith in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She is the main doll that is seen throughout the show. Before becoming a doll, she was a college student and a political activist.

Boyd Langton - he is Echo's handler, which means he watches over her and ensure she carries out her mission, and she gets back to the dollhouse safely. He use to be a cop, before he joined the dollhouse.

Topher Brink - a scientist who is in charge of the memory wipes and imprints. He is a genius, but is also extremely arrogant and egotistic.

Paul Ballard - an FBI agent who is obsessed with finding the dollhouse. One of his main reasons is because of Caroline (Echo's real name), but its a bit vague as to exactly why shes so important to him.

Sierra - another doll and she is the newest one.

Adelle Dewitt - she is the manager of the dollhouse, and is the person who converses with the clients. She makes most of the decisions for the organisation, but she does answer to higher officials.

Dr Claire Saunders - one of the doctors inside the dollhouse who look after the dolls to make sure they are physically fine.


Rating -7/10. Dollhouse has a pretty interesting plot, but it does not have the level of suspense that other shows have. I'd say its still worth having a look at... its good, but not outstanding.

Below is a picture of Amy Acker who plays Doctor Claire Saunders. She is very hot, and she looks a lot younger than she actually is.